Couple ordered to demolish dream home
An elderly couple have been ordered to demolish their dream home. Here’s why.
A UK couple have been ordered to demolish their £1 million ($A2 million) dream home after they were found to have made a “flagrant breach” of the rules.
Jeremy and Elaine Zielinski were given permission to build a stallion semen collection centre and laboratory.
The two-storey building was set to have a reception, office, kitchenette, “analysis and lecture” lab, processing laboratory and staff changing room on the ground floor, The Sun reports.
While the first floor would be a staff living space with two bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom, and a combined living/kitchen space.
But instead the pair turned the property into a three-bedroom home overlooking the countryside in Great Abingdon, Cambridgeshire.
The council got wind of the unauthorised house and ordered the duo to knock it down.
The Zielinskis appealed the order, arguing it was excessive and the property could simply revert to the permitted use.
But a planning inspector has thrown out their appeal, saying the couple “constructed a dwelling from the off”.
The pair were criticised for their “clear and flagrant breach of planning policy”.
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Despite the judgement, Mrs Zielinski, 79, told the Daily Mail she and her husband didn’t know they were breaking the law.
“We want to carry on living here. It’s a warm and comfortable home. I love it,” the GP’s receptionist said.
“It doesn’t make sense to tear it down. I don’t want to go and live in a caravan. If we are chucked out, we will be having to rely on the state.
“We would not have gone on and built this and put all our money into it unless we thought it was totally legal to do it.”
Her husband, 73, added: “I have not had a decent night’s sleep in years and, from the moment when we got the first visit in 2020 [from council officials], life has been shaky …
“We have lost £1 million ($A2 million) overnight as a result of this decision. If we could have a semen clinic on the site it would be worth at least £1 million.”
The couple bought a house with an outbuilding set on 17 acres of land for £100,000 in 1986.
Planning permission was granted in 2014 by Greater Cambridge Shared Planning to build a replacement stable block and a specialist “stallion semen” horse laboratory, with a small upstairs flat linked to the lab use.
The plans were approved on the basis that it would be for a countryside business use, with the residential flat only to be used in connection with the laboratory use.
Instead, the planning inspector said it was built and used solely as a residential house from the start.
He said there was no lab or business running at the site, nor any evidence to show there ever was and that he house was a full home, not just a place for a worker to stay.
He also pointed out that the owner had sold their original house on the site and moved into this new home.
“Photographs provided by the appellant in February 2022 in response to the Council’s Planning Contravention Notice (PCN) show a complete absence of any laboratory space or research facility and that remained the case at the time of my accompanied site visit,” Inspector Chris Preston wrote.
“The ground floor has a decidedly residential appearance, with a domestic kitchen, equipped with kitchen units, cooker, island breakfast bar, with domestic furnishings and appliances.
“A dining area is present next to the kitchen in the space which was shown to house a kitchenette/container storage and distribution on the approved plans.
“Next to that, where the plans depicted an office, is a domestic living room.
“What appears to be an office is present to the front in what was shown on the plans as a reception area.
“Throughout, the ground floor is decorated and equipped in a manner that belies a residential use.
“There is no obvious reception area that would indicate use by customers of a business.
“No laboratory has been installed, no research or stored equipment associated with the business is apparent, either on the photographs from 2022 or at the time of my visit.
“Upstairs, where the staff accommodation was intended to be, there are two bedrooms, in the locations shown on the approved plans and a living area/ lounge, equipped with a sofa and television.
“However, no kitchen appears to have been constructed on the upper floor. In other words, the living space is clearly spread over the two floors, as would be the case in a typical house.”
He said the council had been told the flat would be used by an additional worker, but in fact the appellant and his wife had since sold their existing house and moved into the new property.
He added: “The overriding impression is that what has been constructed is a dwelling house, occupied by the appellant and his wife, as opposed to a stallion semen collection centre/laboratory on the ground floor with residential accommodation above which is what the approved plans depicted.”
He said there was also very little evidence that the stallion semen and collection business had “ever got off the ground to any notable degree.”
He added: “The lack of any clear record of the semen collection and analysis business, when added to the evidence that the laboratory and associated storage and analysis areas were never constructed raises serious doubts as to whether the 2014 permission was implemented.
“If the pandemic did cause issues with the business, the logical thing to do, if implementing the approved planning permission, would have been to construct the building as permitted, with accommodation at first floor level and space for the laboratories etc at ground floor level, even if that led to a delay in installation of those facilities.
“What actually appears to have happened is that the appellant constructed a dwelling from the off.
”The Inspector agreed that knocking the house down was a proportionate and necessary measure as the local planning policies had been clearly broken, and keeping the building but just stopping people from living there alone would not be enough.
Cllr Dr. Tumi Hawkins, Lead Cabinet Member for Planning at South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “We welcome the Inspector’s clear decision, which supports our commitment to upholding planning policies in our Local Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan designed to protect our countryside.
“This case shows the importance of adhering to the specific uses and conditions that justify development in rural areas.
“Planning rules are there for a reason – including protecting our countryside, and this decision demonstrates that we will act when those rules are broken.”
The house must be knocked down and all waste material removed by May 6 2026.
Parts of this story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
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Originally published as Couple ordered to demolish dream home
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